Are rice and bread cookers worth the money?

[Denninmi]

I'm not a fan of either. Over the years, I've had all kinds of gadgets, appliances, and for most of them, I've come to the conclusion that it's simpler, faster, and easier to just do the job by hand than it is to get the appliance out, assemble it, and then clean up and put away after.

[garnede]

I have a wolfgang puck bistro rice cooker. We did not register for it, but my aunt gave my wife and I as a wedding present. We use it a couple times a week. I really like it. We only use brown rice, cooks for 45 minutes. On the stove it is still easy, but takes some babysitting. I just put 1 cup of rice, 3 cups water, and a little olive oil/butter and salt into the rice cooker and 45 minutes later it is done. There are only 2 other things we cook in it. the first is Plav (sp), it is an uzbek dish that is rice and carrots with plenty of oil. I make the same rice recipe, but add a little more water, oil, and salt. It is great with sour cream and cholulas hot sauce. The other is steamed dumplings. It is called Monte, also an uzbek dish, ours is always made with pumpkin and onions but in uzbekistan it is common with meat and onions too. I could make due without our rice cooker, but with a 7 month old baby I like being to set it and walk away till it dings.

I want a bread cooker, but for now I'm making due without one. For both I would suggest looking at the thrift store or on craigslist before buying one new. You either like them and use them or they take up counter space and never get used. you won't know which you are till you get one. Ours does not take up counter space. We put all appliances other than a coffee maker and a kitchen aid mixer into the closet/pantry till we need to use them. We also don't own a microwave, and don't miss it either.

[Minderella83]

I have a hard plastic rice cooker that does wonderful rice in microwave in 15 mins. I got it at walmart a long time ago and wore it out so I had to buy a new one.

[pepperhead212]

A site you may find helpful, Alabamy, is ricecookerguide.com, which offers info on many of the brands and models out there.

Years ago I always said "why bother", when it came to a rice cooker, even though I cook a LOT of oriental food, and rice to go with it. But I bought a rice cooker as a present for a newlywed friend, whose wife is oriental, and her cooker was on its last legs. After using it when preparing meals over at their house, I simply had to get one!! It makes it so much easier to simply put the rice in, and forget about it, rather than having to bother with another burner, and paying attention to the time, and making sure you get it on early enough...it doesn't sound like it would really help that much, but it does.

I got one of the very cheap ones the first time...one of Martin Yan's, for about $19, and it worked well - those kind just start on high heat, then as soon as the water is all boiled off, the heat goes up, and it clicks to a lower heat, to keep it warm. It can still burn on the bottom, however, as the heat is not THAT low, as in the newer models.

I later got an Aroma ARC-856, which has some of the solid state "logic" in it, like most of them do these days, though not like those super-high priced ones. For most things, this type (and many of those Sanyos, though the model you mentioned is one of the lower ones on the list) is great, as it can keep rice heated for 12 hrs. after cooking, w/o burning (not that I ever really do this!). It has a high heat (for steaming), and a low heat, for simmering (porridge, it calls it! lol), and the standard rice level, which adjusts it back and forth, as needed. It is 6 cups, which is more than I have ever needed. What those cups are are not the finished cups, but the dry cups of rice, and not the cups we use - they are about 3/4 c each. It must be some standard measurement in Japan. Almost all cookers come with one of those cups, and you simply put whatever number of cups of rice in, and fill up to that number on the container with water, and cook! You can also cook brown rice or other grains - you just have to know the amount of water. Those super-expensive models probably have numbers to input for all the different rices, grains, and so forth, but I never really need that.

As for that slow-cooker feature, the comments I have seen on it in the cooking forums I go to have not been good. Seems the temp. fluctuates too much above and below the ideal look cook temp., and one was way over temp., and simmering far harder than it should have (this was a Cuisinart, which the lady liked so much for rice she was torn about whether to return it!).

[w8in4dave]

if you get a rice cooker get one that is coated .. Thats all I can say Good luck on your venture and let us know what you decide

[starsprouts]

I had a hand-me-down bread maker that was once my father's. It was ancient, as far as breadmakers go, and I didn't like the bread it made much compared to what I could make by hand, but it made life a lot easier when I was baking a few loaves of gluten-free bread each week. Now I rely on my KitchenAid for most of the kneading and my dehydrator for the rising, since our house is very cool, but I still have to actually stick around the house and remember to punch down the dough, put it in the oven, etc. I kind of miss being able to dump everything in and call it good, though I do like kneading by hand now and again--just not every douple of days, since we make almost all our own bread. I've heard that the new ones are waaaay better than the old one I had. In my opinion, they're totally worth it if you have the money, bake frequently, and don't want to schedule your day around bread.

I don't think I'd ever get a rice maker, though. I make rice pretty frequently, and a pot on the stove is just fine for me. At least the process is only 50 minutes (we generally make brown rice) instead of three hours or more like bread, though.

[garnede]

Oh, we make real stone ground open pollinated corn grits in our rice cooker too. Regular grits cook in 10-15 minutes, but these take 40-50. It is worth it though, they taste so much better than the bags you buy in the store. My does not like grits from the store, but when we got some real grits in our CSA she loved them. Anyway that is another use for a rice cooker.

[JanR]

I had a rice cooker and it never cooked brown rice very well and you were never sure when it was going to be done. I believe it was a Salton. It wasn't worth the counter space and when I moved I didn't bring it with me.

I love Bread makers. I have gone through a number over the years. I now have a Breadman and I love it. It is probably the best Bread maker that I have every had. I hope it lasts for ever.

[catgrass]

Wow-I'd be lost without my rice cooker! But, I'm from Louisiana where we eat rice with everything. I have a plastic microwave one which I dearly love, and use several times a week, and I have a large electric one for big family gatherings. The electric one is an Hitachi. I have my mother's rice cooker that she got when I was in high school (I am 58 now), and I still use it at the shop where I work when we do company meals. Also use it to warm frozen boudin. My rice cookers are used for "rice". I have a slow cooker for anything else. Bread...don't do bread

[tsuyako]

I don't have a rice cooker as I find they burn the bottom of the rice to frequently. I can make perfectly fluffy rice on the stove top in 10-15 minutes. I bake my brown rice in the oven for an hour so I don't take up stove top space.

As for bread, I do this by hand or by Kitchen Aid. I think a bread maker is a waste aswell (my opinion) and it just takes up counter/cupboard space. We never buy bread in our house (unless it's a french Baguette for spaghetti that we suddely wanted) as we make it often enough.